As I was leaving the screening of Howl’s Moving Castle, a colleague turned to me and said, “I really liked the film, although I’m not sure why.” Which was funny since I always found the charm and imagination of every Hayao Mayazaki to be quite apparent. But its probably valid in the context of the animation era we’re experiencing. Miyazaki’s films don’t have the mind-blowing visuals of a Pixar production or the over-clever pop culture references of Shrek and stories of its ilk. In fact, a Miyazaki film couldn’t breathe in a world already populated and established. It exists on its own as a fantasy whose only constraint is that it has to eventually end.

18-year old hatmaker, Sophie, appears to be living out the life of a faux Cinderella. Working in the shop left by her father and a mother getting remarried, Sophie is practically forgotten as she goes about her work quietly. Minding the store one night, the dreaded Witch of the Waste enters and insults her. Before she’s aware of whom she’s dealing with she asks her to leave and is left with a classic curse. Not only is she turned into a 90-year old woman, but the spell prevents her from telling anyone what has happened (a la Jim Carrey not being able to fib in Liar, Liar.)

Sophie seeks out the one person who recently got her out of a scrape (in grandiose, magical fashion) and that’s Howl, a mysterious playboy who roams the outskirts in his moving castle which is part house and part dimension bender. It is fueled by a talking fire demon named Calcifer and inhabited by Howl’s young apprentice, Markl. As Sophie becomes Howl’s maid, the adventure thickens with a quest to reverse the curse (and not just hers) as well as to end a war that’s been waging for reasons even unclear to those who started it.

Miyazaki’s films love to pile on so many strands of adventure and conflict that they could almost be called episodic. That’s precisely what separates them from the lot. Around every corner there’s something you haven’t experienced before, at least certainly not in the way he shows it. Action sequences don’t follow any particular pattern and are never drawn out to the point of being unwelcome. Like The Matrix or Monsters, Inc., behind every door is a new world, a new time, a new encounter. This is a world of wizards, witches, demons (bad AND good) with domains made out of spare parts and have lives of their own like the battleships of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Visually, his films also have a livelihood all to themselves and will delight children even if they’re not always sure of what’s going on. Even adults may be working their brains on catch-up mode and many questions are left up to their own faculties. The frequency with which Sophie’s appearance changes, from old woman to young will baffle some enough to wonder whether they stumbled into Miyazaki’s version of Palindromes. Will love break her spell? Can Howl actually see her the way she really is? Is it all just a metaphor for her growing maturity? The mystery may drive even the most patient to premature frustration.

Thankfully, we can still be involved with the characters without the interference of high-profile voice talent. Dreamworks’ recent failures of Shark Tale and Madagascar recalls Albert Brooks’ classic line from Broadcast News, “let’s not forget, WE’RE the real story, not them.” In Howl’s Moving Castle, we spend less time trying to decipher who the men and women behind the curtain are and bask instead in their fantastical journeys. Christian Bale, Emily Mortimer, Lauren Bacall and Jean Simmons all do stellar work in the American dubbing. Only Billy Crystal strikes a recognizable tone from his first line, but he doesn’t bully his way into become a scene-stealer. Instead he gives a fire demon more authentic personality than the stale ham delivered by Will Smith, Ben Stiller and Chris Rock.

Maybe the best way to describe a Miyazaki film are in its characters; unbound by the restrictions of a known universe yet not always able to take advantage of their own strengths. Maybe its in the set pieces like the castle struggling to maintain its mobility or the side-splitting trek up a never-ending staircase by two old women at odds with each other. Or maybe it’s the simplicity at the effortlessness of its own expanse. Shooting stars that dance on the water before fading away. Sure, the last few minutes of the film in an attempt to wrap-up more subplots than Revenge of the Sith belongs more to the Shrek school of self-parody. But the imagination has been stirred as well as a desire compelling you to experience it again since your eyes will also be playing catch-up on all the wondrous spectacles that are impossible to grasp in just one viewing.

OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2005 Seattle Film Festival For more in the 2005 Seattle Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2005 Sydney Film Festival For more in the 2005 Sydney Film Festival series, click here.

User Comments

1/19/16

Alexis H

Coming of age, discovering love, finding your place in the world

11/25/13

Vanessa C.

Great movie.

11/05/09

Billy

no comment messesary

10/26/09

Faggot84

Lecturing or singing about short vowels is unlikely to prevent the errors children often ma

10/26/09

BadGirl60

Leader-solicited responses from whomever with respect to decisions to be made can become ro

10/25/09

Barbara84

The particular characteristics of this ideal observer can vary from an omniscient observer,